Lionhead Studios main man Peter Molyneux was one such game maker willing to talk about the subject, saying, “There cannot be a hotter potato than this hot potato.”

He continued:

Religion is one of those things where -- if you're specific about it -- you're going to get yourself into a mountain of trouble.

You have to be very, very careful.

Assassin’s Creed creator Ubisoft was one company that declined to talk with GameSpy about the subject, referring the author instead to the disclaimer used in Assassin’s Creed 2, which states that the game was developed by a “multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs.”

Others who provided comment on the subject included Visceral Games’ (Dante’s Inferno) Jonathan Knight, 2K Boston’s Ken Levine and Wizards of the Coast’s James Wyatt, a former preacher.

Among Wyatt’s comments:

Games aren't a place where you are expected to cling to a belief in something that can't be seen or proven. It's a world where the power of gods is demonstrated daily.

[The Lord of the Rings'] Gandalf was -- almost literally -- Jesus walking around with the adventuring party.

Religion is one of those things where -- if you're specific about it -- you're going to get yourself into a mountain of trouble.

You have to be very, very careful.

Or, you just can't be a wimp about it. Make whatever game you want. If you want to be covertly or overtly opposed to religion, go ahead. If you want to covertly or overtly support it, go ahead! It's art. It will be interpreted and appreciated by many, and opposed by just as many. It's sad that business, today, lets religion push them around, just so they don't have to deal with lame boycotts or controversy over whatever game they are making. They have to stop letting the Religious powers push them around, be that Christians opposed to an anti-christian game, or Muslims opposed to showing Muhammed in video games, comics, or TV. It's so stupid.

I'm with Vald on this one to some point. Nut up or shut up. There really isn't that much reason to be all careful about it. As long as you aren't an insensitive prick about it or try to be offensive, you aren't in the wrong if someone claims that some material you made is offensive. People will interpret it in many ways, sometimes in a way that you certainly didn't intend. Don't let any ideoglogy tell you what to make. And even if it is made to be offensive, then what? If it was made like that and has clear intentions of being so, then reasonable people will decide whether or not to buy the game due to its clear offensive views. Then it may not sell due to the offense. Welcome to economics. If you act like an ass, no one will buy your product.

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein

"Welcome to economics. If you act like an ass, no one will buy your product."

Which is why you have to be very careful about it, exactly as Molyneux said!

Reliogion/ideaology isn't pushing anybody around or telling them what to do. Religious people, however, may not buy your product if you alienate them. The USA is still the world's biggest videogame market and also remains quite pro-faith, so devs need to be carfeful about the content they put in their game if they want it to sell to the largest audience possible.

About as bad as sporta fans treating another team badly.....its bascily the same thing.....only after the game the world ends insted of cars being over turned and the zombies are just pissed drunks. LOL

Its kinda sad that you have to tell people fiction is fiction so they are not offended....

------------- On a side note I still like the idea of a heavy christain/mislim/jewish themed sand box game the gameplay is a mix of GTA, zelda and a bit of prince of Persia the, the violence is zelda level with the strongest themes being PG13 ish or lower, its set in the holy land a few years after Christ or a futuristic semi apocalyptic setting(steam punk styleised) and your a young orphaned pick pocket, the holy mother comes to you in your dreams and sends you on errands. Death can be treated like a bad dream where you wake up and lose a bit of your current progress,and so on. Also instead of focusing on a single religion you go over them all Abrahamic based ones and insted of focusing on whos right or wrong go by the hope and "light" in each sect getting away from sterotpyes and holier than thou crap while keeping to the themes of the religions itself..also it needs alot of humor and light hearted fun... Its plasable and a interesting idea but no one will touch it.

"On a side note I still like the idea of a heavy christain/mislim/jewish themed sand box game..."

I always thought a fighting game would be cool. Jesus vs. Allah- FIGHT! You know, you could have all the cool special moves and helper characters and what not. The Buddha would have the Serene Belly-Bop, Jesus could call down a smote from His Father, Allah would rush you with suicide bombers, L. Ron Hubbard would have The Xenu Cruise Missle. Could be a good time.

Problem is religion's a popular topic in movies and TV. Why should games be any different? Getting into trouble is what the medium's all about. We can make games about assassins and gangsters, drug dealers and hookers, but can't mention an bad word about the church? Or a good one? Besides, a lot of games revolve around non-Christian religions: Eternal Darkness, Legacy of Kain, plenty of Japanese imports. Why should Christianity be left out, for good or ill.

Daniel Lewis: The only thing said i disagree with is the final quote on Men's experiences are seen to be universal but women are gendered,though doesn't anita say that games with male protagonists are male power fantasies,so in turn both are gendered03/31/2015 - 1:08pm

Daniel Lewis: i found the video to be much better than any of the TvW series and it's about time the positive women are put in the spotlight03/31/2015 - 1:06pm

Daniel Lewis: So feministfrequency released a positive female character video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmj2yJNUmQ03/31/2015 - 1:05pm

Daniel Lewis: I think the guy who made the direct leak said it was an april fools joke when a real one was announced03/31/2015 - 12:43pm

MaskedPixelante: No way Nintendo would let information like that get out. Remember, they shut down a memoir about the localization of Earthbound by enforcing a 20 year old NDA on the author.03/31/2015 - 12:42pm

james_fudge: Conster: the larger issue is that Ind. does not protect LGBTQ+ people under state law03/31/2015 - 12:11pm

PHX Corp: @MP I think it is confirmed(not an April Fools joke) http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-confirmed-for-wednesday-april-1st/03/31/2015 - 12:00pm

Conster: Apparently Pence intends to amend SB101 so denying service isn't allowed - without explicitly protecting LGBT+ and while still allowing the many other things you can get away with now if it's motivated by your religious beliefs.03/31/2015 - 11:53am

MaskedPixelante: http://mynintendonews.com/2015/03/30/rumour-nintendo-direct-on-april-1st/ A supposed full leak of tomorrow's Nintendo Direct, so you can all laugh and laugh about how wrong it is.03/31/2015 - 11:35am

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/why-a-tekken-7-character-is-being-called-a-phoney-1694724959 Why a Tekken 7 Character Is Being Called a Phoney03/31/2015 - 10:08am

Michael Chandra: Argh. Anyway, I'm glad that move was made. Wonder if it counts, can he just declare it like that? 03/31/2015 - 9:27am

Zen: Conster - Good, it's a BS law that exists to just allow hate basically. Glad people are standing up to it. Sadly it should never have passed to begin with though.03/31/2015 - 8:39am

Zen: Nintendo Direct tomorrow it seems. Funny it will be on April 1st lol. http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/31/nintendo-direct-announced-for-tomorrow03/31/2015 - 8:38am

MaskedPixelante: http://www.destructoid.com/chris-charla-would-love-to-see-no-man-s-sky-on-xbox-one-289761.phtml Apparently Microsoft's famous "parity clause" doesn't apply if they thing your game will make them tons of money.03/31/2015 - 8:00am

Conster: Basically, he's claiming there's a state statute that allows him to invoke section 2 of SB101 and be exempt from it.03/31/2015 - 5:48am

Conster: "..military service veteran status, and any breach of this policy shall continue to be considered a material breach of the relationship with the City."03/31/2015 - 5:09am